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End the Silence about Abuse

With the posting on Tamar, I hope to open up a conversation on the silence that surrounds abuse. Part of that conversation is a short story that will be posted as the third part in this series.

missingkids.com: Victim Silence

The author, who is one of my internet correspondents, asked if he could publish a story about abuse on this site. He was concerned that so many of blogs seem to soft pedal controversial issues to the point that they become meaningless. Specifically, he thought that the writers of parenting blogs seemed to live in a world much different than his. That their blogs seemed unreal. He specifically felt that they didn’t really address the realities of life that he had experienced.

Personally, I can sympathize with those blog writers, as I have been fortunate to have not personally experienced the things that he has seen. If it wasn’t for the “statistics”, I would be tempted to write off his experiences as uncommon and not a problem. However, the statistics paint a completely different picture.

For him, the abuse story that will be presented in part three of this series hits very close to home.

If he was identified as the writer of this story, it would destroy any connection or value that he has to give to this child and his family. It would potentially place the family members in more danger.

I agree with the author that this story needs to be told. Abuse is normally addressed with meaningless statistics, but stories can carry the emotions of the events and speak directly to our hearts and spirits.

Here is his personal introduction to the story.

One in four women in the USA

One in three women – globally

All victims of violence. Along with their children. The numbers all sound so clinical and distant. Just so we can have some more numbers to “study the issue.” But consider this. The “one” is your daughter, the “one” is your granddaughter, your sister, your niece, your friend, your neighbor.

We treat these statistics like clinical studies. We say we are appalled by this violence. Everyone in church folds their hands and prays for the victims’ safety. We pray for “Tamar.” We pray for Jessica and her three dead young daughters (video). Then we all go home in silence. And eat our Sunday dinner. All while someone’s daughter is screaming to protect herself and her babies. Babies whose slain bodies will be found in the bed of a pickup truck tomorrow morning. To create yet another statistic that we quote. And again nothing is done.

You and I will see this news on the internet. Nothing done.

You see them. You know you see them. The women wearing long sleeve shirts during the hot summer days to cover the bruises on their arms. And with their timid, quiet children in church. The church’s best kept “family secret.”

Jesus was a man of action. Not silence. He hears the screaming.

Do you hear the screaming?

All evil needs to exist is for good people to do nothing. While “one” screams for help.